Charlton start with Bent sallies and end with scambled egg on their face

Below Chelsea the Premiership is becoming an egg-and-spoon race, often using real eggs. The contest demands a steady hand, a sure step and a clear eye, otherwise the whole thing descends into bathos, which can be entertaining but a mite messy.

Two of the champions' less distant pursuers shared a yolk or two at The Valley on Saturday without ever suggesting that they were capable of offering a serious threat to Chelsea's nouveau riche grip on the title. After leading Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 early in the second half Charlton managed to lose 3-2 and ended looking shell-shocked.

Spurs had the good grace to appear slightly bemused since they had not played that well whereas their opponents had not performed that badly. "We showed again today that we can play against the top teams," declared the Charlton manager Alan Curbishley, which was a little generous since Tottenham have not warranted the description for 20 odd years.

Still, Curbishley was entitled to search for the odd crumb of comfort given that his side again achieved a quality of passing and movement that has distinguished their impressive start to the season. Even now Charlton have taken 15 points out of a possible 21 and in losing to Tottenham still achieved a level of attacking performance which had distinguished their home defeat by Chelsea a fortnight earlier.

Against that, Spurs took much credit for spotting and pursuing a route to salvation when all seemed lost. They accepted their chances at crucial moments whereas Charlton scorned timely opportunities that would have put the match beyond Tottenham's reach.

Much of Charlton's early-season surge has been due to the consistent finishing of Darren Bent, a fact confirmed by the alacrity with which the former Ipswich striker took his two goals on Saturday. Each was created by shrewd passes, from Danny Murphy after 25 minutes and Jerome Thomas after 48, which caught the opposition's offside trap in a state of disrepair.

In between times Bent miscued a much simpler chance wide after Alexei Smertin had left him to score from kindergarten range yet his departure with a fat eye, following a clash of heads with Paul Stalteri 20 minutes from the end, deprived Charlton of the best means to rescue the game after they had been pulled back to 2-2.

Bent's replacement, Shaun Bartlett, is no mean finisher but at that stage and in that situation was unlikely to reverse the tide of events promising Spurs victory. What it boiled down to was the luxury enjoyed by Martin Jol, the Tottenham manager, in being able to summon from the bench a goalscorer of rather higher quality.

Robbie Keane now plays second fiddle to Jermain Defoe but continues to show a healthy propensity for seizing the orchestra leadership. The Irishman's late goal had brought Spurs a point at Aston Villa and now he struck even later, with 10 minutes remaining, to bring them all three at Charlton.

The circumstances were bizarre. With Mido prostrated by cramp on the right Charlton pressed home an attack on the left. Convention demanded that someone kick the ball into touch to bring the Egyptian striker treatment but Tottenham were equally oblivious to Mido's plight as Aaron Lennon gained possession before setting up Keane for an exchange of passes with Defoe and a typically emphatic finish.

Naturally Jol contended afterwards that Keane is still an essential part of his plans. "If Robbie wants to play for us he will," the Spurs manager insisted, adding that he was grateful to the Republic of Ireland for keeping the striker fully match fit. Whether or not Keane slips through the January transfer window in search of regular first-team football remains to be seen. On Saturday's evidence Jol can ill afford to lose him.

In spite of the victory Tottenham's all-round play can only improve. Though Pedro Mendes and Lennon managed to delay the grip that Murphy and Smertin are apt to assert for Charlton in midfield, Spurs failed to maintain this parity and started to regain it only once the busy, perceptive Teemu Tainio had replaced Mendes just before the hour.

By then the soft goal scored by Ledley King, who stuck out a leg as a free-kick from Mendes brushed the head of Mido and saw the ball gently ricochet beyond the reach of Stephan Andersen, had implanted seeds of doubt in Charlton's mind. These were duly confirmed in the 64th minute when Tainio's clever little reverse pass let in Mido for a narrow-angled shot through Andersen's legs.

"Maybe we've got to turn off and start to defend," Curbishley reflected. Maybe so but this would be a pity for Charlton, whether winning or losing, are fun and that, in the Premiership, is water in the desert.